Robbers strike minutes apart in Warren

Detectives believe two men committed a weekend armed robbery on a Warren street and an attempted holdup a few minutes later.

In the first incident, an 18-year-old man gave up his wallet and an iPhone after a man brandishing a semi-automatic pistol demanded his valuables shortly before midnight Saturday. A teenage female who accompanied the victim on Maxwell Avenue near MacArthur Boulevard had no items.

No shots were fired, and the Warren man and the teenager were not injured in the robbery, police said.

The robbers, both described as black and approximately 19 years, fled on foot. The gunman is approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall, has a dark complexion, dreadlocks and wore a black shirt and blue jeans. His accomplice is about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, has a dark complexion and wore a black, hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, police said.

A few minutes later, two men matching the same descriptions were in a gold-colored, 4-door, late-90’s Buick that pulled up to a Warren woman as she walked on MacArthur, just north of Cadillac Avenue, Warren Detective Sgt. Steve Mills said.

“She heard someone yell about being robbed,” Mills said.

From inside the vehicle, the man with the dreadlocks ordered the 23-year-old woman to give up her purse, police said. He then exited the car and started to walk toward her. The woman raised her cellphone and said she was calling police, Mills said.

The would-be robber retreated to the vehicle, which was last seen heading north on MacArthur.

While suspecting the same pair of suspects committed both incidents, investigators have no indication the culprits are responsible for other local robberies, Mills said.

Anyone with information about either incident is asked to call Warren Detective Cpl. Scott Isaacson at 586-574-4789.